Cassini and Saturn's moons

[geonuc]

"The heat generated by the RTG might create a pool/puddle of liquid whatever where there had been none before and introduce an undesired variable in the local environment."
...
"impact the planet on a subsequent go-round."
And this will NOT introduce an undesired variable in the local environment?

I personally say, go to Saturn - close and personal.

Not sure if you understood what I said. Cassini impacting Saturn - 'the planet' - will certainly have a far lesser chance of creating a pool of liquid stuff where there was none before than would an impact on an icy moon.

[clint]

...If we were truly a geek society; we would have another mission on the way and and at least two more missions planned...

Second the motion!
And let's throw in a few more missions to Jupiter's moons

[01101001]

Pretty new Enceladus plume pictures.

Universe Today: Fabulous! Enceladus Raw Flyby Images

Carolyn Porco, the lead for Cassini's imaging team, warned on Twitter that the flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus performed by the spacecraft on Nov. 2 wasn't really an "imaging" flyby, and that we might have to wait until the Nov. 21 flyby for really good images. But just take a look the images returned so far, with stunning looks at the jets shooting from the moon! Another image takes a close look at the surface. These are raw, unprocessed images, but what images they are!

CICLOPS: Enceladus preview

[01101001]

Planetary Society Blog: Prepare for your jaw to hit the floor when you see these pictures of Enceladus

Wow, just wow. I didn't know what to expect from the second flyby of Saturn's geyser moon Enceladus in November, which happened yesterday. I knew the cameras were given control of spacecraft pointing during the closest part of the flyby, so that there should be some pretty cool photos of tiger stripes, but I have to confess I didn't expect anything tremendously different from the first high-res imaging flyby.

Well, I was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Cassini has sent back some of the most amazing images from the whole mission.

[Kullat Nunu]

My jaw is still aching... :surprised

[Spacemad]

Truely fantastic images!

[Glom]

My jaw is still aching... :surprised

Yep. That's not a bad bit of photography. I wish we had a scale on the surface closeup.

Is Enceladus always pluming that much or does it come in spurts?

[ugordan]

Is Enceladus always pluming that much or does it come in spurts?

Pretty much all the time, apparently. There's a theory linking it with tidal stresses which would periodically change the intensity on certain stripes and locations as Enceladus went around Saturn in its slightly elliptic orbit. Don't know if that particular theory panned out or if there are enough observations yet to fit the model.

[bunker9603]

Those are amazing images! Thanks for posting or I would have missed them.

[01101001]

Those are amazing images! Thanks for posting or I would have missed them.

My pleasure. Just so they don't get missed, Planetary Society Blog: Two more awesome pictures from the Enceladus flyby:

This first one [Emily Lakdawalla] put together from two of the south polar plume images – you can see all four of the tiger stripes, and the plumes issuing from them, in this wide shot. [...] This other [animation] was put together by Gordan Ugarkovic – Cassini flies into the plumes!

[Glom]

Those plumes look like aurorae.

One of the images made APOD.

[Spacemad]

The images that Emily has put together are something "out of this world"! She's a real artist putting images together!

[01101001]

High-res color Prometheus in Planetary Society Blog: Planetary Society Advent Calendar for December 27: Prometheus (hot off the presses!)

The word "potato" is commonly used to describe the shape of small bodies in the solar system, but I think that Prometheus, with its pointy ends, looks more like a related vegetable, a yam.

[clint]

...but I think that Prometheus, with its pointy ends, looks more like a related vegetable, a yam.

On that photo, it looks more like a squid to me...

[mahesh]

Truly wonderful pictures. Thank youZeroOne...for the links.

Clint, perhaps the vegetarians amongst us would consider Prometheus a yam/potato and others a squid...
(BAUT caters for all tastes all flavours)
Gorgeous, anyway one looks at it...

Thanks for sharing ZeroOne ... I'd've missed them too...
Happy Christmas ye'all